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Outgoing Alabama AD Bill Battle says Saban-to-Texas talk kept him up at night
Now that Greg Byrne has been brought in from Arizona, outgoing Alabama athletic director Bill Battle has had some time to reflect on his tenure with the Tide.
One thing Battle did not have to do during his time as AD was hire a football coach. Nick Saban, the best in the land, was already there when he arrived 2013. However, Battle said he was tasked with keeping Saban in the fold.
No, really. In an interview with Al.com, Battle said one of the most challenging parts of his four years was the highly publicized rumblings of Texas’ interest in Saban as head coach back in December 2013.
“Probably that kept me up the most at night was Coach Saban’s contract and the Texas incident,” Battle said.
Saban reaffirmed his commitment to Alabama multiple times and eventually reached an extension with the school on Dec. 13, 2013 — between the now-infamous “Kick Six” loss to Auburn and the Sugar Bowl against Oklahoma.
Saban later revealed in July 2015 that his agent, Jimmy Sexton, called him “about 15 times” about the Texas job.
“I have an agent [Jimmy Sexton], which most coaches have, and when somebody is interested in you, they call your agent, which they did,” Saban said. “The agent calls you, and you tell the agent, ‘I’m interested’ or ‘I’m not interested.’ So [Sexton] called me about 15 times about Texas, and every time he called I said, ‘I’m not interested in talking to them, and I never will be.’ That’s the story. He did his job, I did my job.”
While Saban put it so succinctly many months after those overtures surfaced, Battle made it clear he was a bit in the dark about what was happening until he heard from Saban himself. Battle said things around the Alabama athletics offices were “very intense.”
A new deal between Alabama and Saban was announced Dec. 13, 2013. Before that, there were uneasy days in that athletics director’s office.
“Well, they were very intense,” Battle said Thursday. “He never told me that he had any interest or he was going. But I was reading he was offered $10 million and a percent of the Longhorn Network.”
So, Battle said he called the Saban house. He got Terry Saban, Nick’s wife. She said he was out recruiting but should be home soon. The coach called later.
“‘Look, I’m recruiting and trying to get ready for Oklahoma,'” Battle recalled Saban saying. “I said, ‘Well, that’s what I want to hear.’ That’s what I said and that’s what I thought. But you never knew. I didn’t want to lose Nick Saban under my watch. So, until it got done, it was tense.”
Since then, Alabama has reached the College Football Playoff in three straight seasons. The Tide lost in the semifinal to Ohio State in 2014, won the title in 2015 and lost in the title game to Clemson this season.
For more Alabama news, visit TideSports.com.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
